Merkel: 'We will be ready to do everything we can to help Italy'

Rescuers walk through rubble following the earthquake in Amatrice, central Italy, August 24, 2016. Thomson Reuters

TALLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday said Germany was ready to provide any aid needed by Italy after an earthquake killed at least 73 people in a string of small towns in central Italy.

"The pictures we seeing are awful. We will be ready to do everything we can to help Italy if needed, and our thoughts are with the people of the region today," Merkel said a news conference in Estonia.

The quake struck when most residents were asleep, razing homes and buckling roads in a cluster of communities some 140 km (85 miles) east of Rome.